My sources in Lincolnshire report that Stephen Phillips QC was earlier this evening selected in the second ballot out of a field of six for the Conservative nomination in the seat being vacated by Douglas Hogg.

Stephen was one of the runners-up in the recent Woking selection. He read Law at Oxford and after a short stint in the Welsh Guards and
attending Sandhurst, he was called to the Bar in 1993 and appointed a
QC earlier this year. He is also Chairman of the Governors of the only
sign-bilingual school in Britain.

"Sleaford and North Hykeham Conservatives have chosen six candidates to contest an open primary meeting on Sunday, October 18, to select a Conservative Candidate to succeed The Rt Hon Douglas Hogg QC MP, as the Conservative Candidate at the next General Election. Mr Hogg recently announced his decision to retire.

Three men and three women will contest the Open Primary interviews at which any elector in the Sleaford and North Hykeham Constituency may attend and vote.

The six candidates are:

Kwasi Kwarteng, an investment analyst and author from London. Mr Kwarteng was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and fought Brent East for the Conservatives at the 2005 General Election.

Katy Lindsay, a business consultant from London who fought Hull East for the Conservatives in the 2005 at the General Election

Kay Mason, a businesswoman and farmer from Norfolk who fought Norwich North at the 2005 General Election.

Lucille Nicholson, a farmer, and businesswoman from the North East who fought Easington for the Conservatives at the 2005 General Election.

Stephen Phillips QC, a barrister and former army officer from London whose wife comes from Lincolnshire. He is an adviser to Shadow Education Spokesman, Michael Gove.

Colonel Bob Stewart, DSO, retired Colonel of the Cheshire Regiment who is now a consultant, broadcaster and author.

Sleaford and North Hykeham Conservatives’ Chairman, Mr George Clark said: “We were determined to give constituents a wide choice of experience and ability and to choose able and articulate candidates who will speak up for Constituents in the way that Douglas Hogg has done for the last 30 years.”

But a week, as the old saying goes, is a long time in politics and the figure five has doubled into ten vacant Conservative seats after the announcement of five further retirements over the last few days.

So here is an update of all the Conservative held seats which will require a new candidate, taking into account the newly announced vacancies and starting with the safest...

After three MPs made snap announcements over the last 48 hours that they are stepping down at the next election, that brings to five the running total of candidate vacancies in Tory held seats. I assume they will be seeking new candidates after next month's elections.

They cover a wide geographical spread and the details of each are as follows:

ConHome is also hearing of serious concerns from within the Totnes Association regarding the behaviour of Anthony Steen MP. Members are "unhappy" I hear and moving towards deselection. The Western Morning News noted his imaginative use of expenses yesterday:

"TORY MP Anthony Steen last night said he "set his own rules" in deciding to claim almost £88,000 in taxpayers' money for work on his million-pound Devon mansion.

The Totnes MP told the Western Morning News that no-one in the Commons "knew what the rules were" so he took the decision to claim for maintenance and gardening work and not mortgage costs.

Mr Steen ran up a bill of thousands of pounds on work which included guarding shrubs from rabbits, inspecting trees, redecorating, moving boulders, fencing off fields, overhauling a private sewage system and sowing grass seed.

Last night, he said he "got it wrong" and was prepared to pay back to the taxpayer around 10 per cent of the £87,729 he claimed for the upkeep of the house, which the Daily Telegraph estimated was now worth around £1.5 million."

The Telegraph has published a full list of Tory MPs under investigation.

Tim Montgomerie

3.15pm: Douglas Hogg MP's statement (from The Times): "I entirely understand the public anger that has erupted over expenses. The current system is deeply flawed; we parliamentarians have got it wrong and I apologise for that failure which is both collective and personal. In view of David Cameron’s campaign for an early election - which I strongly support - I have decided that now is the time to tell the Sleaford and North Hykeham Association that I will not be standing in the coming election. This will give them time to select a new candidate to best represent local and national interests.”

"Senior officers of Sleaford and North Hykeham Conservative Association apparently met with Rt Hon Douglas Hogg QC MP on the afternoon of 14 May 2009, following which they issued a statement of complete support for their MP.

At Douglas Hogg's instigation, the officers called an Executive Council meeting for this coming Saturday, so that Douglas could make a short speech and answer questions. This was a positive action.

I understand that George Clark, Association Chairman, intended to move a motion of support for Douglas at the close of that meeting (although another source informs me that the Conservative Agent tried desperately hard to dissuade him from such a course of action).

In any event, that meeting of the Association's Executive Council has now been cancelled.

Whilst there is no doubt in my mind that Douglas has suffered unfairly at the hands of a baying press, the situation was not helped by senior Association officers making such a fullsome statement of support on 14 May 2009. The correct course of action at that time would surely have been to offer local members the opportunity to hear and reflect on the facts of the matter, in order to reach a considered and informed judgment?

In my view, issuing the press release and calling for a motion of support within such a short timescale (and at a time when they should instead have been listening to the concerns of local people) was a serious error of judgment by the Association's senior officers. Local members will know this is not the first occasion on which the Association's current Chairman has come into conflict with the Conservative Agent and Senior Councillors.

Had Saturday's meeting not been cancelled, I was minded to call for the Association's Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Treasurer to resign.

Indeed, I still think that should happen in order that we may proceed with selecting a new candidate by way of the open primary process. Having been on the receiving end of misleading literature published by another political party, the thought of going into a General Election campaign with the same senior officers at the helm terrifies me."

Officers of the Sleaford and North Hykeham Conservative Association have backed their local MP Douglas Hogg MP after last week's revelation about his expense claims for a moat.

The President and Chairman of SNHCA have issued a statement on their website (click on the image on the right to enlarge the statement). A peek at the antiquated nature of the Association website will give you all the proof you need that this is a complacent Association.